Category: Brain Injury

Eric Lindros was the top of the top player in the NHL, of that there’s no doubt, but his retirement that was forced upon him by concussions has changed his view on hockey a bit.

On August 17, in London Ontario, Lindros said it’s time for the NHL to seriously think about removing body contact from the game. Not selectively, but entirely.

When he began his professional career, he was awesome skill-wise, because no other player was anywhere close to him, even remotely. He was the best of the best, and wasn’t afraid to be the best at beating the hell out of someone. He’s still playing, after his forced-retirement in 2007, but how they play is that they don’t run into each other. It’s all skill with the puck, and he’s still second-to-none.

I think that while what he’s suggesting may sound drastic, and scare some people with the significance of it, but when you think about it, it makes sense. Take out what makes the game dangerous for players, both while they’re playing and after they’ve retired, and accentuate the skill-elements.

I’ve got a question for you. If you’re in a busy shopping mall, full of people, and you see someone who’s disabled drop something that they likely won’t be able to get unassisted, do you offer to help? I’ve been watching the world a bit, and noticed a few things. If I’m either alone, or there are only a few people around, and something happens that I’d need help fixing, I’m immediately offered help. However, if I’m somewhere where there are a lot of people, like a shopping mall at Christmas time, and I drop something, nobody stops. It’s weird, because I’d thought that the way it would be would be the opposite. But, “group think” is the way that it is. In psychology terms, group think is: “Groupthink occurs when a group with a particular agenda makes irrational or problematic decisions because its members value harmony and coherence over accurate analysis and critical evaluation. ”

Basically, nobody wants to do something different than the group.

Please, if you see something like that, and nobody’s stopping, be different. Fight the urge to keep going, stop, and help.

She’s been to the top of the world, done a whole lot of things that are mind-boggling, but when a skier slammed into her in Gatineau Park while cross-country skiing, her world changed. Her injury was pretty much the epitome of invisibility, because unless you know, you’d never know what she’d suffered.

She didn’t know what to do, and wasn’t given proper guidance, so she went on a boat on the Drake Passage, home to some of the largest waves in the world. The waves were immense, people were thrown everywhere, and because she hadn’t received proper guidance, her invisible injury was made worse.

Last summer she was still vomiting frequently. She’s an “invisible sufferer”, because unless you know, you’d have absolutely no idea of what she suffers, and if she makes a mistake because of it, she might be blamed for inattentiveness.

I had the coolest of cool jobs, I did triathlons, and was in a boot camp fitness that met at 5:30 AM. It was pretty awesome, despite that it was early.

When we were hit, my life changed. I’d thought for the worst, because of what happened. I couldn’t swim. I couldn’t ride a bike. I couldn’t run. I could go on, but you get the point. What happened since then is more awesome than awesome, to the mind-boggling level. It’s like that cartoon, because the man whose about to lose his head can’t for the life of him see anything according to the king. But, it’s somewhat like me, because you never know what will come of change, and with the right perspective, it’ll be awesome. My Not-For-Profit is something that’s going to be more awesome than awesome, and ultimately, it’ll blow people’s minds. I’ve got plans, big ones, that will take time, but when they’re running, people won’t believe it.

When I do my monthly PARTY talks at the hospital, who’s there are grade 11s, basically either just got, or about to get their drivers license. They’re learning about the effects of decisions. But, I don’t only talk about drinking & driving, but other decisions. I ask them to put their hands up if they always ride their bikes with a helmet on. I’ve asked every group in the last few years, and every time, I’m surprised if someone holds up their hand. When I started to ask it, I thought that maybe one or two might not, but everyone else would. I was stunned that in the first class I asked, not a single kid held up their hand. In fact, it wasn’t until the third group that someone held up their hand. I asked, saying that there’s no reason to not tell me why, because I won’t judge. I’ve heard that it messes up their hair, that it’s hot, it’s uncomfortable, and so on. I share with the kids that there’s absolutely no reason that would be good enough to not wear one. I say that the man who hit us was behind us, doing about 60, and we’d had no warning. I was driven over, and the only reason that I’m not dead is because of my helmet. I’ll start asking the classes to raise their right hand, and promise that they’ll wear theirs.

I posted someone else’s story, about the not-quite-accessible status of places she goes. I’d said that I agree, that while I’m able to walk when needed, but achieving the minimum level of accessibility to be “certified”, and get the tax-break, without making it truly accessible, is wrong.

With how my disability is, I’m able to look upon my scooter as a car. I don’t go into stores, usually because I can’t. I bring a walker with me. You see it on the back.

I follow all traffic rules, stopping at stop signs and the like, because “they” require me to park it like a car when I get to some stores.

Here’s an example. This is an “accessible” store. This is its front entrance. My scooter is roughly 8 feet long. The door to the wall is roughly 3.5 feet, with a 90 degree turn, in a space roughly 3 feet wide.

This isn’t the only one, not even close, which why I’m not going to say their name. They know that because they’re only a tenant, that they’re unable to do too much, but they try really damn hard.

There has been a lot of talk about concussions, including the movie with Will Smith, but for the life of me I still am stunned/amazed/shocked at the number of times that I see or hear people who have no idea how prevalent it is, or pretty much anything about them.

In today’s Ottawa Citizen there’s a story about it, and the first paragraph says it:

OTTAWA — Roughly half of Canadians know little to nothing about the perils of sports-related concussive injuries, nor where to turn to find information on how to avoid falling victim to them, suggests a newly released federal survey.

Please read this article, learn about it, and be part of the small percentage of people who know about the injury.

The media-push is starting. This morning, in about 2 hours, I’ll be on the radio! And, on Tuesday I’ll be on TV! There’s something that I’d like to share there, that’s not done by typing, is the fact that while a brain injury can be debilitating, it’s sometimes invisible. I’ve hated how I was, a lot sometimes, but in the last little while I’ve come to realize that it could be worse. I’m visibly-disabled, because I can’t walk properly, I wear prism glasses, and I have a speech impediment. I’m offered help, cars stop for me to cross, and I don’t ever need to ask for help.

Yesterday, something happened that made me think. I watched what happened around me, what people did,, and it was clear. Being visibly disabled is infinitely better than being invisibly-so. I know several people who cannot work due to what they’d suffered, but upon seeing them, you’d have absolutely no idea. They walk with no issue, speak with no interruption, and are licensed to drive. They don’t read books, because after about 20 pages, they forget most of what they read. It’s hard, because of all that I’ve lost, but looking at what I’ve got more closely, there’s actually some good in it.

Ok, it kinda sucks that we were hit, and I’m disabled. But, on the whole, being visibly so has its advantages. Take today. I left Timmy’s, needed to cross the road to get on my way. It was busy, a few cars in both directions. About 2 seconds after I got to the stop sign, the first car on my left stopped. The car in the other directions stopped, the guy smiled, and waved me across.

Yes, not being as I was kinda sucks, but being visibly disabled has its advantages!